Research of new energy is directed at solving energy problems in recent years. Particularly, hydrogen energy has features such as an inexhaustible supply, pollution-free, and high thermal efficiency, and many researchers have investigated various leading candidates for future new energy.
The methods of producing hydrogen are classified into two kinds. One method is to decompose water to produce hydrogen and oxygen using electric power, sunlight, nuclear heat, or the like, and the another method is to extract hydrogen by the thermal reforming using a natural gas as a raw material. There are problems of discharging carbon dioxide in the producing process, using fossil fuel, and the like, in the latter method for producing hydrogen, and the former method for producing hydrogen using water electrolysis utilizing the electric power, the sunlight, the nuclear heat, or the like, is indispensable to construction of a clean energy system.
Traditionally, producing hydrogen is performed by water electrolysis using a low-temperature solid electrolyte film such as a perfluorosulfonic acid resin. The perfluorosulfonic acid resin can include Nafion 117 (hereinafter is named simply as Nafion) from DuPont, for example.
FIG. 16 is a sectional view showing an outline of a conventional apparatus of producing hydrogen. In the apparatus, Nafion 103 is located between an anode 101 and a cathode 102 which are placed in the opposite direction, and the following chemical reactions occur at the anode 101 and the cathode 102 respectively.                Anode: 3H2O→2H3O++1/2O2+2e−        Cathode: 2H3O++2e−→H2+2H2O        
That is, water is electrolyzed at the anode 101 to give H3O+ ions, the H3O+ ions are conducted from the anode 101 to the cathode 102 through the Nafion 103, and hydrogen is generated from the H3O+ ions at the cathode 102.
There are the following problems in such apparatus for producing hydrogen.
First, the Nafion 103 is an H3O+ ion conductor, and the conductivity is not maintained in the low humidity atmosphere. Rather, it functions under the existence of a lot of water. Then, it becomes indispensable to be equipped with a humidifier on the side of the anode 101 where the H3O+ ions are produced, so that the Nafion 103 may to fully include moisture.
Furthermore, it takes long time to start a steady operation, because the initial stage of the electrolysis requires a supply of water vapor sufficient to allow the Nafion 103 to function.
Moreover, the above method for producing hydrogen generates water with hydrogen. For this reason, a dehumidifier is indispensable on the cathode 102 side.
The present invention has been achieved to solve the above problems. It is an object of the invention to provide an apparatus for producing hydrogen and a method for producing hydrogen which effectively produce hydrogen in the low humidity atmosphere with no humidifier nor dehumidifier, and an electrochemistry device and a method for generating electrochemistry energy which generates electrochemistry energy by an oxidation-reduction reaction using hydrogen.